Saturday, July 29, 2017

This is the commander in chief of our military, folks, where
transgender service members are currently deployed overseas with the
units they serve in depending on them to perform critical tasks.
Everyone has to believe that everyone else has their back and vice
versa. And then there’s the Don, stewing in the safety of the Oval
Office about a legislative snag that might tank billions in taxpayer funding for his precious border wall that everyone knows is a boondoggle anyway.

So the Don picks up his phone and fires off a policy-on-the-fly tweet storm claiming
that “after consultation with my Generals and military experts,”
transgender Americans wouldn’t be allowed to “serve in any capacity.”
Except, the leaders of the respective branches were entirely blindsided …

Mr. Mattis, who was on vacation, was silent on the new policy.
People close to the defense secretary said he was appalled that Mr.
Trump chose to unveil his decision in tweets, in part because of the
message they sent to transgender active-duty service members, including
those deployed overseas, that they were suddenly no longer welcome.
[...]

Mr. Mattis had worked behind the scenes to keep such language
out of legislation, quietly lobbying Republican lawmakers not to attach
the prohibitions, according to congressional and defense officials.

Hmm, wonder why Congressional Republicans were so worried about that whopping $8.4 million that might be spent on medical care for transgender people who are risking their lives for our country?

Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers had come under pressure from Tony
Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, a leading
Christian conservative group, and an ally of Mr. Trump’s. Mr. Perkins
opposed the bill over spending on transgender medical costs and lobbied
lawmakers to do the same.

“Grant repentance to President Trump and Secretary Mattis for even
considering to keep this wicked policy in place,” the Family Research
Council said in one of its daily prayers last week. “Grant them
understanding, courage and willpower to stand up to the forces of
darkness that gave birth to it and wholly to repeal it.”

Opponents of allowing openly transgender service members had raised a
number of concerns, including what they said was the questionable
psychological fitness of those troops.

How about this: We have a number of concerns about the psychological
fitness of the commander in chief. Good thing right-wing extremist Tony
Perkins is now calling the shots on military policy for troops presently
serving overseas, some of them combat zones. As for the fitness of
trans service members:

Lt. Commander Blake Dremann, a Navy supply corps officer who is
transgender, said he found out his job was in danger when he turned on
CNN on Wednesday morning. Commander Dremann came out as transgender to
his commanders in 2015, and said they had been supportive of him.

He refused to criticize Mr. Trump — “we don’t criticize our commander
in chief,” he said — but said the policy shift “is singling out a
specific population in the military, who had been assured we were doing
everything appropriate to continue our honorable service.”

Mr. Dremann has more grace, honor, courage, and common sense in the
tip of his pinky finger than Trump is even capable of comprehending let
alone possessing.

Every day, Trump puts on a new master class in how a
bottom feeder can drag one of the greatest countries in modern history
down to the dregs of the earth. It’s just a question of which way he’ll
do it on any given day.

As for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, she lied through her teeth during Wednesday’s press briefing, repeatedly claiming that the new policy was "based
on a military decision” in “consultation” with the national security
team (which apparently didn’t include the Joint Chiefs of Staff). But
don’t worry, as a “person of faith” God is her “one perfect role model.” So all is forgiven. Blessed be.

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